Ok, after searching threw bolt on mods, i see my eclipse has absolutly no hope of getting to where my stock z26 is. That headers, cai, and what not does nothing to help car. Well, not without a turbo anyway. I find this very hard to believe, but none the less, you guys know whats what with these machines. What i didnt find the answer to is, how is not giving your car more, smoother colder air not going to help it? Or goin with a header not goin to let the motor exhale better? The stock mani looks horrible for flow. A header flows much better. The better the engine can breath, the better it runs. So why not with these cars? And if they make no differnce, why do people make them and why do companies make them?

you can do the bolt ons on a 420a and have increases in power and performance, but the gains are not much and are comparable to a honduh single slammer. actually, i take that back... honda single slammers would murder a 420a if they each had the same tricks done to it. the car is TO HEAVY and comes with gearing that doesnt help the situation either.

when people say "theres no gain from doin bolt ons" they're just talkin S and bein slightly rude. theres gains to be made. but they truly are so small that for the cost of some of these parts for what your gonna get in return is a rip off for the money.

And if they make no differnce, why do people make them and why do companies make them?

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Because people buy them . Because they add some "bling", because they sound louder and louder means faster right? Or maybe because die hard 420a guys keep advising new 420 owners to buy them, which is sad.

Bolt on's don't necessarily add hp, they free it up by removing restrictions.

when people say "theres no gain from doin bolt ons" they're just talkin S and bein slightly rude. theres gains to be made. but they truly are so small that for the cost of some of these parts for what your gonna get in return is a rip off for the money.

Ok, after searching threw bolt on mods, i see my eclipse has absolutly no hope of getting to where my stock z26 is. That headers, cai, and what not does nothing to help car. Well, not without a turbo anyway. I find this very hard to believe, but none the less, you guys know whats what with these machines. What i didnt find the answer to is, how is not giving your car more, smoother colder air not going to help it? Or goin with a header not goin to let the motor exhale better? The stock mani looks horrible for flow. A header flows much better. The better the engine can breath, the better it runs. So why not with these cars? And if they make no differnce, why do people make them and why do companies make them?

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. how much power were you expecting from a Cai and a header?

420a's are IMO perfect daily drivers.

No serious power gains will be made other than adding a Turbo or rebuilding the engine as an N/A with high compresion pistons. Suspension upgrades, LSD and a very good tune. Otherwise DD.

91stocker, you gotta be freakin kidding me man? earlier in this thread i bassically said that dollar per performance gain its a rip off to buy these parts. i basically said that for the money spent no real gain will be made. you then go out of your way to "quote" and look up some old ass import tuner info and then post the link also.

WELL THANKS CAUSE THAT EXACTLY PROVED THE POINT I WAS TRYING TO MAKE. look at the bankroll spent. it says the cost of all these parts. TWELVE HUNDRED BUCKS for all that crap ant its peek increase in power was 4hp... FOUR LIL TINY STINKIN PONIES ALL FOR THE COST OF $1200.

the only way to make powr effectivley is to do a homemade turbo kit on a budget. buy crap like this is a wate of money. period. c'mon man, greddy header? it gave like 2hp gain and cost like 400bucks. was the gain worth the money? hell no! and import tuner sucks on reliable tech info any how. look they have a eclipse RS and they state for common swaps 4g63t. give me a break...

Id just be happt for 160 hp . Supposibly, my car has stage two crower. Yet to be determined. I need to get the car moving first which will be fixed the 20th. Then do then do the routine mantenance. That will let me know whether or not the idle is sorta lopey from the cams or not, right? I knpw i could look for the crower stamp, but dont feel like pulling the vavle cover first. Ive read all the people saying buy the gst or gsx, but dont want a turbo atm. As with manu noobs, i dont have the cash or wanna drive my backup vehicle because of fuel cost. I wasnt expecting major.stuff ojtout of it, jusy more passaze so to speak. And no, louder doesnt mean faster . I know that. If thats the case, every vehicle would be straight piped . Im not car illiterate if that helps anyone out, but is my first car with a real aftermarket. Ill read through those articles later. And will say ive read through alot of this forum before i made any post. I know what the cheap things do, and know what it takes to make real power. So fyi guys, not jusy another noob here . More later, bed time for now. Up early to get my tranny tomorrow. Thanks guys for all the help. Will say this is the friendlist forum ive ever been on.

Id just be happt for 160 hp . Supposibly, my car has stage two crower. Yet to be determined. I need to get the car moving first which will be fixed the 20th. Then do then do the routine mantenance. That will let me know whether or not the idle is sorta lopey from the cams or not, right? I knpw i could look for the crower stamp, but dont feel like pulling the vavle cover first. Ive read all the people saying buy the gst or gsx, but dont want a turbo atm. As with manu noobs, i dont have the cash or wanna drive my backup vehicle because of fuel cost. I wasnt expecting major.stuff ojtout of it, jusy more passaze so to speak. And no, louder doesnt mean faster . I know that. If thats the case, every vehicle would be straight piped . Im not car illiterate if that helps anyone out, but is my first car with a real aftermarket. Ill read through those articles later. And will say ive read through alot of this forum before i made any post. I know what the cheap things do, and know what it takes to make real power. So fyi guys, not jusy another noob here . More later, bed time for now. Up early to get my tranny tomorrow. Thanks guys for all the help. Will say this is the friendlist forum ive ever been on.

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Turbo car doesn't mean bad gas mileage, if anything you keep your foot out of it and you get better gas mileage. Mine gets 35-37 mpg. Pshhhh....keep your foot out of it. Hahahah! Anyways....I traded my rs off for the gsx I have now, takes work but it can be done. I even traded for most of the parts that were on my car. But I have a better job now so they got replaced with newer better parts but they were still perfect parts.

I had a 5 speed RS in high school and I loved it. Got it as a 16th birthday present. Was super clean and a ton of fun to drive. Of course I thought it was fast back then but 420a or not I fell in love with DSM's because of it. When I went to college I sold my RS and picked up a 97 GSX and . I re fell in love with DSM's, but this time it was because of AWD, and more specifically AWD launches.

I did the bolt ons to my RS and noticed absolutely no difference. My advice would be to either keep/make your current RS clean and enjoy it for what it is. A good looking and reliable DD.
Or sell it and buy an AWD DSM. GST's are awesome and all, but AWD is sooooooooo much better!

Ok, what will an.underdrive pulley add for me? Also,what are the free mods, what does that mean?

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Underdrive pulleys will free a up a few ponies, nothing more. Free mods are cheap and easy mods to factory parts that are obviously restricting. However, the only "free mods" page for DSM's I know of (VFAQ.com) only pertains to turbo DSM's.

I read the post about the 4hp. Gives me hope actually. 1200 just in i,e,h is ubsurd. That in reality could be had for 400 if i shop around. Something like that would eventually pay for itself in mpg increase. Theroetically anyways...

I read the post about the 4hp. Gives me hope actually. 1200 just in i,e,h is ubsurd. That in reality could be had for 400 if i shop around. Something like that would eventually pay for itself in mpg increase. Theroetically anyways...

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Negative. It may actually hurt mpgs. Things that free up potential horsepower, i.e. roller rockers, which lowers rotational friction, or lightweight flywheels, which lighten rotational mass, will help mpgs. Things that allow the engine to take in more ai, not so much. More air in = more gas in.

If you really want more power out of the 420a platform, n/a, and arent on too small a budget, consider rebuilding the engine using extremely lightweight rotational parts, titanium head component, and build it to turn 12,000 rpms with 11:1 CR

ebay parts, matrix air filter wiht a pace setter header. i would never spend money onthe name brand parts for that engin. like i said earlier, the dollar per performance gain aint really worth the money for 90% of the NA parts that are offered for the 420a platform. the only way to effectivley make any real power is to peice together a homemade turbo kit your self

This is how I see it,
If you want big numbers find something with a 4g in it.
keep in mind if you get a gst you're still fwd and major power would only really be for sh**s and giggles.
I can honestly form experience tell you that, for the average person the 420a is not the best platform to make cheap power (even if you spend a fortune you're still limited by design differences in the two platforms).

If you just want a car to show off to others, it doesn't seem very rewarding personally, I would rather have something I am proud to say had a role in creating rather than try and keep up with trends and what others think.

So just to wrap up.
No the 420a is not a power hungry beast like the 4g.
The "bang for buck" with the 4g is more rewarding in terms of power gains.
Anything can be done it's just a matter of how much time and money you want to put into it.
......oh and if you want mpgs get a hybrid.

Nobody is saying you have to go get a turbo anything, we just hope you understand the trade-offs in what you want.
Hopefully you see most of the comments were not meant to attack you or make you feel like there is a right or wrong answer to this. At the end of the day, if you really want, you will make the best decision for what you want.

Lots of crap information throughout this thread. But to help you out: Get a pace setter header like mentioned earlier. A real cai that puts the filter in the opening on the front bumper(like an Injen)/can get used. And the exhaust isn't going to do much, I would suggest just getting a better flowing muffler. If you look around and shop some used parts, all those can be had for cheap. And YES, doing those mods will help your mpg's.
No, your not going to be the fastest car on the street, but your also not invested like those who have the gst/gsx's.

And the point of getting an underdrive pulley isn't necessarily about the power gains as much as it helps get through the rpms to put you in the power band faster.

Lots of crap information throughout this thread. But to help you out: Get a pace setter header like mentioned earlier. A real cai that puts the filter in the opening on the front bumper(like an Injen)/can get used. And the exhaust isn't going to do much, I would suggest just getting a better flowing muffler. If you look around and shop some used parts, all those can be had for cheap. And YES, doing those mods will help your mpg's.
No, your not going to be the fastest car on the street, but your also not invested like those who have the gst/gsx's.

And the point of getting an underdrive pulley isn't necessarily about the power gains as much as it helps get through the rpms to put you in the power band faster.

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But why bother spending all that money just for 5hp if you're lucky. Just enjoy
having a reliable car.

And how exactly would he not be invested like those who own GST/GSX's? What exactly does that even mean? My 100% stock talon is much faster and I have exactly zero dollars invested in it.

Yes guys. I understand that this isnt a race car, and i also understand u guys are just trying to help. I understand the trade offs vs. Money spent. I really like this forum and hope to learn alot. I love my eclipse. Its a blast to drive. Handles better then i could ask for.
I also know that i want something real, buy a gsx. Or add a turbo to mine. But even doin a turbo at home would be impossble because i wouldnt een begin to know what to do. Lol. Its a great car, and for 750 i defantily cant complain. Even if the linkage did screw up and its goin to cost some money to get her goin again. Luckily my beretta getting totaled covers the car, and the parts/labor for the most part.

But why bother spending all that money just for 5hp if you're lucky. Just enjoy
having a reliable car.

And how exactly would he not be invested like those who own GST/GSX's? What exactly does that even mean? My 100% stock talon is much faster and I have exactly zero dollars invested in it.

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If you read the post spending a few hundred bucks isn't that bad. And it helps move the whole power band not just at peak, so you do get a little pep and better gas millage. Not much of either but for $400 I'd take ~9wtq and a few mpgs and be a happy camper.

And for the invested part...Have you checked the price difference in a "relaible, good running" gst/gsx vs. rs/gs? There's enough difference there to build a turbo kit. Which at 8psi would put out close to the same hp levels of a stock gst. At the same power numbers, modified power usually will be quicker than stock.

If you read the post spending a few hundred bucks isn't that bad. And it helps move the whole power band not just at peak, so you do get a little pep and better gas millage. Not much of either but for $400 I'd take ~9wtq and a few mpgs and be a happy camper.

And for the invested part...Have you checked the price difference in a "relaible, good running" gst/gsx vs. rs/gs? There's enough difference there to build a turbo kit. Which at 8psi would put out close to the same hp levels of a stock gst. At the same power numbers, modified power usually will be quicker than stock.

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I'm not saying that it is absolutely pointless but I just feel like the money could be better spent in other areas. IMO if you are going to spend money on making it faster then you should either turbo it or do a high comp build. Instead of spending a few hundred dollars here and there why not just save your money for a while until you get around 2000 and then just turbo it.

I haven't looked at prices down south lately but up here you'd be lucky to get an RS/GS for under 4000. I got my TSI AWD for much less than most N/A's go for and it is damn near perfect. I practically stole my talon from the guy I bought it from because he had no idea what it was.
This makes me sad because it will probably sell at close to asking price. 97 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS Great College car!!

I sold my RS for 4500 and it had 115k miles and a tranny with a ####ed up 1st and 2nd gear synchro. And that was reasonably fair.

Wow, those prices are crazy. I paid 3500 for mine 8 years ago. You can get rs/gs's in great shape for 2000(95-96) or 3-4k(97-99). 99's are usually the only ones close to 4k. But for a turbo model that actually runs like its suppose to people want at least 6k most of the time around here.

Wow, those prices are crazy. I paid 3500 for mine 8 years ago. You can get rs/gs's in great shape for 2000(95-96) or 3-4k(97-99). 99's are usually the only ones close to 4k. But for a turbo model that actually runs like its suppose to people want at least 6k most of the time around here.

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Ya it sucks. turbo's around here normally go for around 5-6k. I plan on buying another GSX when I get back from work in a week and i'm hoping to get it for 5500 or so but i'll pay 6000 or so if I have too. 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX AWD TURBO